Tuesday, June 14, 2016

In the last day or so, a number of things have circulated regarding Muslim views on homosexuality.

1. In the Koran, we can read instructions to punish and kill those who indulge in homosexual behavior. In a BBC interview, the interviewer actually reads this out to an Imam straight from the Koran and he weasels out of it. "Yes, for me, I would never do it and the Koran condemns it, so I must be faithful to it. But no, he never ever would hurt a soul or condemn anyone for it, even a Muslim homosexual. This Muslim homosexual has to figure it out for himself." Em. This is a complete contradiction.

2. There is another talk on Youtube , where a pretty reasonable sounding Imam explains to the people that since Muslims live in America, they must be subordinate to the laws there, but they can still keep their own moral code. Homosexual behavior, continuous sexual innuendo on TV--even aimed at children--the sexual way of looking at females is all "unhealthy". But he would not kick anyone out of the mosque for immoral behavior, such as alcohol drinking, adultery, etc. because they are not really unbelievers. They are just people fallen into sin.

Since the government does allow this "unhealthy" behavior, such as homosexuality, the Muslim must also "tolerate" it, but not agree with it. And in fact, LGBT rights activists have been important allies in protecting minority rights of Muslims and should be acknowledged for that work and support. Nevertheless, lately, the culture has become such that Muslims cannot be "tolerated" by LGBT because of their stand on issues, and they feel that they have come under threat and oppression by LGBT groups. It is becoming intolerable not to be "tolerated." Tolerated does not mean that you agree. The rules for dealing with people who are hostile to you are different from the rules for people who are helpful to you.

3. The Orlando shooters father made a video to express his grief. My impression was that he was not awfully grief-stricken, as far as grief-stricken goes, and as far as Muslim expression of emotion sometimes goes. He said he taught his son that Allah will do the punishing. We don't need to punish the sin of homosexuality.

4. An Orlando preacher preaches that homosexuals should be killed in an accent free English. He calls it an act of compassion.

5. The shooter was active in the scene, himself. He claims allegiance to ISIS. He is also said to have been very careful about scouting out the scene and preparing for the attack. The debate is now whether he was a man trouble with his own sexuality, or a homophobe, as far as these sorts of lables go. (The word homophobe is used rather losely, one finds, attacking anyone who is critical or in disagreement. In this case, since the shooter went out to kill, the lable "phobe", as in hater, would be reasonable.)

Friday, June 10, 2016

Regarding the Stanford rape case, the National Review analysis is quite good. It finishes with this valid complaint about the so-called hook-up culture.

"Turner is a criminal, something liberals as well as conservatives should be able to agree upon. One can understand the judge taking the defendant’s age and lack of priors into account in sentencing, but to cite his drunkenness as a mitigating factor is peculiar. Oh, you were drunk when you robbed the liquor store? Reduced sentence. It may not be a crime to get blind drunk at a bar or party — but it’s reckless. Here is the truth that the Left will never acknowledge — the hook-up culture they celebrate and defend is the greatest petri dish for enabling rape and sexual assault imaginable. It does women no favors to tell them that the way they drink is irrelevant. It may not be a crime to get blind drunk at a bar or party — but it’s reckless. The Stanford woman’s blood-alcohol level was three times the legal limit. Again, that doesn’t make her a criminal, but who can doubt that, but for that, she would not have become a victim? Here is what the Right must come to grips with: Some of the women “crying rape” were truly raped, even if their attackers were not knife-wielding assailants jumping out from behind trees. The anti-constitutional adjudication system erected by universities to hear sexual-assault cases is a disgrace. The judicial system isn’t the whole answer either. Most cases of rape have no witnesses. They reduce to he said/she said. Those who care about innocent young people of both sexes whose lives have been blighted by the current mess need to step back. The problem is hook-up culture."

Wednesday, June 8, 2016

Recently, in Canada, the one and only clinic where operations on genitals were performed for individuals going through a gender transition, was torched and suffered a bad fire. The immediate suspicion was that there was a so-called hate crime.

It turned out, however, that the fire was set, while there were operations going on and people on the premises, by a person who had had the surgery there a little while ago.

After that I had a discussion with an individual who has transitioned from male to female, here . The assertion was made that transitions are about 99% successful, which I don't believe, judging by the suicide rates, HIV infection rate and violence suffered and perpetrated, as well as testimonials one comes across. And of course, the torching of the clinic news story. It seems to me more likely, that someone who has gone to these extreme measures to deal with some disaffection in life, now called dysphoria, will NOT find it cured by becoming "female", as this is not really possible.

I have known one person personally, who was hermaphrodite, and transitioned male (he was a father and family man) to female. She never looked, sounded, or acted in a feminine way, no matter how hard she tried. I am not sure what objective was in effect met. Was it worth the trauma all around?

The debate became partly how many "regretters" there are out there, that is how many people regret the decision to transition.

I also said, that as a woman, I am offended to the core, that someone would assert that they can become a "woman" by dressing up and other superficial changes. This was not acceptable to the individual I was speaking with. I said that the idea that you can become a woman outward appearance was further evidence of a male attitude to femaleness.

In order to demonstrate to those who thought that they can become female that this is indeed preposterous and a way of talking that shows lack of understanding, I put together this list of recent events, articles and news stories, to see if it could sink in that a man cannot become a woman and actually barely knows what a woman's life is really like.